Spring wedge heel



Aug. 28, 1945. c. MILLER- SPHING- WEDGE HEEL Filed Oct. 28, 1 944 -INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 28, 1945 SPRING WEDGE HEEL;

Carl Louis Miller, Franklin Furnace, Ohio, assignor to Vulcan Corporation, Portsmouth, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application October 28, 1944, Serial No. 560,727

11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wedge heels and more particularlyto an improved resilient wedge heel. I

Wedge heels commonly comprise a solid block of wood covered with leather, Celluloid or other covering material. Such heels are very stiff and rigid and have no resilience- Attempts have been made to manufacture wedge heels of semiresilient materials in order to provide more walking comfort, but certain ofthese materials'have not proved entirely satisfactory. Some .of them will not stand prolonged or severeservice. The

use of rubber lifts on wedge heels to provide a certain amount of resilience is expensive, and for some types of heels,'quite impracticable.

The primary object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved wedge heel which is easy to manufacture and which is of resilient construction. I

A further object of the invention is to provide a resilient heel which is inexpensive to manufacture and which has a good appearance.

An important feature of the present invention is the provision of a wedge heel having a construction adapted to give substantial resilience to the heel. A preferred form of resilient construction according to the invention, includes a wedge heel having spaced upper and lower portions between which a resilient member such as a spring is mounted under compression.

The

heel includes means for holding the member under compression and for limiting the spacing between the upper and lower sections of the heel.

In a. preferred form of the heel, an important feature resides in the provision of a'wedge heel having upper and lower sections connected'integrally in the forward portion of the heel and arranged so that the said sections may be pivoted with respect to each other to a limited predeter- U Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in broken section, of a wedge heel showing one form of the resilient construction of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a. view similar tothat of Fig. 1 showing a modified form of spring arrangement .for providing a resilient wedge heel.

Fig. 3 is atop view of the leaf spring shown in I Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side View of a short model wedge heel illustrating a covered heel having the resilient construction of the present invention.

major portion of the heel including an upper section I2 and a lower section I4 separated by a wedge-shaped approximately horizontal slot or saw-cut which extends into the heel to approximately the midportion of the instep I0. Heels of thisftype are made from wood and are shaped in the usual way to provide a wedge heel of the desiredstyle. Thereafter the heel is provided with a substantially horizontal slot which may be made wedge-shaped by a single saw-cut and the subsequent spreading of the parts I2 and I4 at the rear, or by actually cutting a wedge shaped piece .of wood from the heel. If the former procedure is used, it will of course be necessary to adjust the .angl erof the heel and the slope of the seat at a subsequent stage of the operation. In any case,

theforward portion of the wedge-shaped slot is through a hole 22 bored through the seat of the heelsection I4 and which is also bored substantially into the upper section I2 to provide a recess or hole 24 for the spring 20. After the spring 20 is inserted through the hole 22 and seated in the :top :of the hole 24, a metal spring rest 26 is inserted-under; the spring 20 so that the spring 20 is heldunder compression between the upper and lower sections I2 and I4. The metal spring rest 26 is made from a straight piece of fiat metal which is pressed'to provide a cup or seat for the "spring 2fl and side flanges, which rest on the upper surfaces of the section I4 while the cup seats in the hole 22.

Theheel sections I2 and I4 are held together with the spring 20 under considerable compresscrewed into the upper section l2, as shown. The screw 28 is brought up sufficiently tight against the shoulder of the hole 30 to give the proper back line to the heel and to hold the spring 20 under compression. Screw 28 also limits the separation of the sections 12 and I4 while the heel is in use.

When it is desired to insert the spring 20 and the spring rest 26 into the heel, the screw 28 is turned out considerably so that the sections l2 and 14 may bespread to a substantial extent, thus facilitating the compressing of the spring 20 and insertion of the spring rest26. A tool (not shown) may be used for compressing the spring 20 while the spring rest 26 isinserted Such a tool preferably has a longitudinal slot sun'iciently wide to receive the rest 26, and is provided with shoulders which engage the lower coil of the spring 20. This tool is inserted through the hole 22. The bottom of the spring is then compressed substantially into the hole 24, the rest 26 is slid along the upper surface of the section l4 and inserted under the spring through the slot in the tool. Upon removing the tool, the spring and rest will be properly seated in the hole 22 in the manner shown in Fig. 1. Instead of using a spring rest such as 26, the spring may be held under compression at approxiinatelythe position shown, by gluing a wooden block in the hole 22 below the spring or by compressing thespring to the desired position and drivin a nail'through the side of the heel across the hole22 directly below the spring. f 3

In- Fig. '2 of the drawing, a modified form of spring construction is shown in connection with a fiatseated wedge heel. In this view the heel comprises upper and lower sections, 32, 34, separated by a wedge-shaped slot which may be made in the manner described above in connection with Fig. '1, but which is rovided with a downwardly curving forward section 36' which extends down to within approximately one-eighth inch of the seat of the heel, so as to provide a resilient relatively narrow bendable section similar to the sec--' tion IS in Fig. 1. In this form of the invention, the spring used between sections 32 and 34 comprises a leaf spring 38 shown in both Figs. 2 and 3, which has a rear central slot 40 and a forward central hole 42. The spring 38 is placed centrally in the heel between sections 32 and 34 with the bowed part of the spring resting on the section 34, and fastened therein by means of a nail 44 driven through the forward portion of section 34 and the hole 42. The opposite end of the spring 38 engages the under portion of the upper section 32 and-is held in place by a' countersunk screw 46, like screw 28, which is inserted through a shouldered hole 48' in the section 34 and screwedint'o the section 32. The screw 48 extends through the slot 40 in the spring 38 and is positioned so that the rear portion of the spring 38 can move with respect to the screw 46 and slide along the under surface of the section 32 as the section 32 moves up and down. This action'will be readily understood since, as the bowed spring 38 is compressed, it becomes longer. -The'screw 45' not only serves to hold the spring 38 in place, but also serves to position the sections 32 and 34 with respect to each other and limit their separation by the ac-' tion of the spring 33, which is originally mounted in the heel under considerable compression so as to give the desired resilience to the heel when in actual service. In all modifications the head of the screw moves down and up in the space provided, as the upper and lower sections of the heel are compressed andexpanded.

I mounted in heels by providing a hole in the rear portion of the spring through which a screw such as 48 is inserted, leaving the forward end of the spring to slide in the wedge-shaped slot as the spring is compressed. The forward end may slide betweena pair of-small nails driven through the seat of the heel on each side of the spring.

The wedgeheel shown in Fig. 4 is of the short wedge-type and is provided with a resilient heel construction similar to that shown in Fig. 1, but is shown completely covered with a covering 50 such as leather. The view shows the finished heel with the cover slightly drawn in, in the form of a bellows fold 52 iii the wedge-shaped slot.

This form of heel may be made without the use of the spring rest 26 as used inFig. 1, by actually separating the upper and lower-sections of the heel, mounting the spring in recesses in the sections and nailing the forward portions of the heel together with two or more fiat-headed nails54. Such nails may also be used in the form of heel shown in Fig. 2 to strengthen'the springy section between the seat and the section 36 of 1 the slot.

Fig. 5 shows the heel of Fig. 2 covered like the heel of Fig. 4, witha" leather covering 50. The leather bends in, in the wedge-shaped groove to give a similar bellows-fold appearance at 52. This result is obtained in the'covering of the heels by releasing the screw which limits the separation of the upper and lower heel sections. The screw is released so as to givea relatively wide wedge-shaped slot which is considerably wider than the final form 'of' the heel. Thereafter, the leather, which is wet, is stretched over the expanded heel and cemented on in the usual manner. After the heel covering is on, the heel sections are brought together by tightening up the limiting screw. The stretched leather-over the groove therefore folds into the groove to form the bellows-like fold 52, as shown.

Various modifications may be made in the resulting heel construction, as exemplified in various figures of the drawing, since various types of springs or resilient members may be used, and they maybe secured in thesubstantially horizcntal slot or space betweenthe heel sections in various ways. The preferred form of the invention, however, is the coil spring arrangement shown in Fig. 1. However, it is to be understood that various modifications are intended to be covered by the claims.

Having described the invention in its preferred form, what is claimed as new is: i

l. A resilient wedge heel comprising upper and lower wood sections spaced" substantially from each other throughout the back and a substantial proportion of the remainder of the heel, a spring mounted between said sections" to urge them apart, and means for limiting the action of said spring and for restricting theseparation of said sectionsto a predetermined maximum ex-' tent. V

2. Awedge heel as defined'by claim 1 in which said spring is a coil springmounted'under compression in recessesinsaid'woodsections."

a. A wedge heel as defined by claim 1 in which said wood sections are separated by a wedgeshaped slot extending substantially horizontally from the back of the heelinto the instep.

4. A Wedge heel as defined by claim 1 in which said sections are separated by a wedge-shaped slot extending from the back portion of the heel into the instep section of the heel, and in which said spring is a coil spring mounted under compression between said Wood sections.

5. A wedge heel as defined by claim 1 in which said spring is a leaf spring of substantial width and which is mounted under compression between said wood sections.

6. A resilient wedge heel comprising upper and lower wood sections spaced substantially from each other at the back portion of the heel and separated by a tapered slot which extends into the instep section of the heel, said wood sections being integrally connected in the instep section of the heel, a resilient member mounted between said sections to urge them apart, and means for limiting the spreading action of said member and for restricting separation of the back portion of said sections to a predetermined maximum extent.

7. A wedge heel as defined by claim 6 in which said resilient member is a coil spring mounted between said wood sections in the rear portion of the heel.

8. A wedge heel as defined by claim 6 in which said resilient member is a leaf spring of substantial width and length.

9. A resilient wedge heel comprising upper and lower wood sections spaced substantially from each other in the rear portion of the heel, said the separation of said sections to a predetermined sections being separated from each other by a tapering slot which extend into the instep section of the heel, a resilient member between said sections, said upper and lower wood sections being integrally connected to each other in the instep section of the heel, the forward end of said slot and said lower Wood section being arranged vwith respect to the bottom of the heel so that the. wood sections may be readily sprung toward each other by bending the Wood of the lower portion of the heel at the forward 'end of the slot.

10. A resilient wedge heel comprising upper and lower rigid sections spaced substantially from each other throughout the back and a substantial portion of the remainder of the heel so that the sections are separated by a tapering slot which extends into the instep section of the heel, a resilient member mounted between said sections to urge them apart, means for limiting the action of said member and for restricting maximum extent, and a cover for said heel tightly fitting over the side surfaces of said sections and being folded by a bellows-type fold in said slot.

11. A resilient wedge heel comprising an upper wooden section including the instep portion of l the wedge heel and a lower wooden heel seat sec- 

